The Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine has researched a new list - The Top 100 Most Famous Artists in 20th Century. As usual, it was not easy to leave artists out of this list. We consulted numerous sources to compile and then pare down this list.
This list should not be confused with a Best, Most Important, Highest Prices at Auction, Most Influential, Most Researched, or Contemporary Living Artists Lists. It was essentially made from numbers of references made to a 20th century artist’s name as “famous” as well as major references in art history archives.
Despite our main focus in contemporary art, Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine is very aware and happy to provide a list of artists who are not only most famous but who are in fact very influential on contemporary art. Here is our list of The Top 100 Most Famous Artists in 20th Century (listed alphabetically).
1. Pierre Alechinsky
2. Karel Appel
3. Alexander Archipenko
4. Jean Arp
5. Frank Auerbach
6. Milton Avery
7. Francis Bacon
8. John Baldessari
9. Georg Baselitz
10. Jean-Michel Basquiat
11. Max Beckmann
12. Max Bill
13. Louise Bourgeois
14. Constantin Brancusi
15. Georges Braque
16. Alexander Calder
17. Anthony Caro
18. Paul Cezanne
19. Marc Chagall
20. John Chamberlain
21. Eduardo Chillida
22. Joseph Cornell
23. Salvador Dali
24. Stuart Davis
25. Andre Derain
26. Otto Dix
27. Jean Dubuffet
28. Marcel Duchamp
29. Raoul Dufy
30. Max Ernst
31. Richard Estes
32. Helen Frankenthaler
33. Paul Gauguin
34. Alberto Giacometti
35. Juan Gris
36. Barbara Hepworth
37. Hans Hofmann
38. Robert Indiana
39. Jasper Johns
40. Asger Jorn
41. Frida Kahlo
42. Wassily Kandinsky
43. Anish Kapoor
44. Ellsworth Kelly
45. Ernst Kirchner
46. Paul Klee
47. Gustav Klimt
48. Franz Kline
49. Willem De Kooning
50. Jacob Lawrence
51. Le Corbusier
52. Fernand Leger
53. Roy Lichtenstein
54. Louis Morris
55. Rene Magritte
56. Kasimir Malevich
57. Man Ray
58. Henri Matisse
59. Joan Miro
60. Joan Mitchell
61. Paula Modersohn-Becker
62. Amadeo Modigliani
63. Piet Mondrian
64. Claude Monet
65. Henry Moore
66. Giorgio Morandi
67. Robert Motherwell
68. Edvard Munch
69. Louise Nevelson
70. Ben Nicholson
71. Isamu Noguchi
72. Kenneth Noland
73. Georgia O’Keefe
74. Bruce Nauman
75. Claes Oldenburg
76. Jose Orozco
77. Pablo Picasso
78. Jackson Pollock
79. Arnulf Rainer
80. Robert Rauschenberg
81. Pierre Renoir
82. Diego Rivera
83. Larry Rivers
84. Auguste Rodin
85. James Rosenquist
86. Mark Rothko
87. Kurt Schwitters
88. Richard Serra
89. David Smith
90. Frank Stella
91. Clyfford Still
92. Antoni Tapies
93. Wayne Thiebaud
94. Mark Tobey
95. Cy Twombly
96. Victor Vasarely
97. Andy Warhol
98. Grant Wood
99. Andrew Wyeth
100. Jiro Yoshihara
Certainly any artist’s fame is a part of historic processes. Nations that are wealthy, able to produce art in any era, and able to publicize that art will get the most recognition - this was especially true of the 20th century. The Top 100 Most Famous Artists in 20th Century are predominantly European and American - and art historians know the reasons for this very well.
Please use the links below for more lists of resources about modern and contemporary art topics. Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine is pleased to bring you our list of The Top 100 Most Famous Artists in 20th Century.
Tia Marks, Executive-Editor, Contemporary Art Gallery Magazine
Tags: 100, 20th, art, artist, auction, best, century, famous, highest, history, list, most, names, prices, top
